Protests from abroad to gov't approving rightist textbook
TOKYO FEB 22 JPS -- Alarmed at the Education Ministry's moves to pass a
rightist history textbook in the ministry's screening, Asian and other
countries are expressing protest.
Akahata of February 22 reported that criticism has come from Chinese
residents in Canada and the U.S.A., and from the Netherlands, following the
joint statement of protest published by three South Korean history research
associations last November.
The new textbook for fiscal 2002 for junior high schools, which is edited
by the Association for Creating a New History Textbook, praises Japan's war
of aggression as war for liberating Asia.
Government sources said that considerations for international relations
would not be made, and there shall be no intervention by politicians. They
say approval will follow if description does not contradict historical
fact. This suggests that it would pass the screening in the final decision
to be made on February 28.
Following the House of Representatives Budget Committee Chair Norota
Hosei's remark that the "Greater East Asia War" had helped Southeast Asian
countries achieve independence, the textbook would inevitably become a
political and diplomatic issue.
South Korea will reportedly take up the textbook issue in the official
agenda of the third Japan-South Korea ministerial talks in March.
A South Korean government official told an Akahata correspondent in Seoul
that the government cautioned the Japanese government against the decision
which distorts historical fact. (end item)
(Forwarded from John Manning)
Louis Proyect
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